


¯\_(ツ)_/¯

by ash_wolfling



Category: Homestuck, Hs - Fandom
Genre: M/M, Post-Game, eridirk is love eridirk is life, eventual fluff probably, not entirely sure where this is going, pov switching
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2016-11-16
Packaged: 2018-06-10 04:08:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6939025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ash_wolfling/pseuds/ash_wolfling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After they win the game and inherit the new world, not everyone is as content as they should be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is literally the first actual fanfic I've written about them and I'm only writing it out of spite that there aren't many other fanfics about them.

(Eridan's pov)

Eridan frowned as the new world stretched out before them. Vast oceans filled with marine life lay to the left of the door while a soft breeze gently ruffled through the leaves of the forest to his right. Small, unfamiliar animals skittered about, seemingly unaware of the group of assorted humanoid people watching them. The air was filled with their chatter- some laughing, some crying, some simply staring at their new home in awe.

The seadweller wasn't quite sure what he expected but somehow it wasn't… This. In this promising new world modeled after the humans' earth, rife with new opportunities, he felt like he was missing something. Was this it? How it all ended? No more battles, no more games? 

His thoughts were interrupted as someone mentioned his name, but it had only been an apology from one of the older humans for having bumped into him. He opened his mouth to say it was alright but by then it had been forgotten in favor of joining what appeared to be a group hug. 

That must be what was missing, then, he realized. Eridan Ampora had no purpose in this new world. Back in the game he had been a valuable player, at least. But he had butchered any pretense of friendship with Karkat and couldn't even bring himself to talk to Feferi. Although he supposed Equius might accept his company if only for his blood caste, there was no way he would stoop that low.

Eridan sighed. Already standing aside from the rest of the group, no one noticed as he slipped away towards the beach. Maybe whoever was in charge of this sick game had been kind enough to leave a shipwreck or two for them.


	2. ye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dirk's pov

Several hugs, two fistbumps and one friendly punch to the shoulder later, Dirk Strider was sitting on one of the fallen logs and surveying his surroundings. This world, however unfamiliar, was nice; much like the ones he had seen in the movies Bro had left him, actually, now that he came to think of it. He felt a faint burst of childish excitement as he wondered if he could visit all the things he had dreamed about when he was younger. Jungles, colorful beaches, sand pits with giant rats, pyramids- he could barely wait. 

He would go about all this in a cool, composed manner, of course. No use in letting his excitement show needlessly. For now, however, he contented himself with gazing up at the trees and watching the animals go bye. He almost recognized a few of them from books and was silently proud of this fact. The large bird with wide, open eyes had to be an owl. The small furry creature climbing up the pine tree with an impossibly furry tail was a dolphin. The small bugs scattered about should be ants and the variety of seagulls here was amazing.

As for the world itself, it looked like they would have to build civilization themselves from scratch. Not something that, he mused, he would have much helpful input in. But at least everyone was happy.

A little ways away he could see Dave, Karkat and the mayor, who appeared to be eating a very large leaf. The three of them were talking excitedly amongst themselves, Karkat's head resting in Dave's lap. He couldn't hear what they were talking about, only faint strains of laughter and occasional shout.

The other alpha kids had gathered together near the door(which had closed by now and no one had even considered re-opening) to begin planning out how they would begin their world. The ghost armies --the ones that survived, at least-- had woken up here, alive once more. 

Tracing along his arm, Dirk grimaced at the unfamiliarly smooth skin. All of their injuries and scars had vanished upon exiting the door and although he knew it was for the best, the Strider wasn’t used to not seeing the long scars from his strifes with Bro. He could have kept them, he supposed; Terezi had chosen to stay blind, after all. But no. Leaning back against the trunk of the tree, Dirk slumped. It was time to let go of all that. Bro was long gone, he would never have to think of him ever again, never have to tense whenever he turned a corner or sleep with one eye open. No more sudden flash-stepping around him, no more sudden fights in which he was virtually helpless.

Dirk Strider wasn’t as used to this world as the rest of them already were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will make the chapters longer eventually maybe probably not sorry


	3. How do title

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> c:

The more Eridan wandered throughout the deserted part of the new world, the more queasy he felt about it all. 

For one, it was immediately clear that it had never been inhabited by trolls or humans. There was no sign of boats, which meant that there would be neither a ship to replace his old hive with nor other ships to loot. Both of these things would have been tremendously helpful for giving him any sense of familiarity, yet it looked like he would have neither. He was barely used to switching his daily duties to the daytime instead of avoiding the sun at any costs, so this only made it that much worse.

As he walked, the violetblood came sudden realization. The mangled scars on his gills had healed. He reached up to touch them gingerly and blinked, immediately pulling his hand away. Eridan had gotten used to the rough texture for so long, gotten used to seeing swimming as a physically taxing chore instead of the pleasure it should have been. 

No, he wasn't used to this world at all.

With slightly trembling hands, the Ampora unfastened his cloak and kicked off his shoes, casting them both aside on the pale, jagged cliffs. Then he sighed, ran his hand across his gills, and jumped.

-  
( Dirk's pov)

Even though the forest was charming in its own way, Dirk soon found that ants were annoying and one of the dolphins seemed to be stalking him, its cheeks stuffed with nuts. Even the seagulls were unfriendly.

So with that in mind, he had adjusted his glasses and informed Roxy that he was going to go look along the beach. Maybe some familiarity would clear his mind.

And he was glad he did, too. Trees were fine and all but having that much shade all in one place was making him feel slightly claustrophobic. The sound of the waves alone was like music to his ears and he almost instinctively left his shoes behind to feel the sand beneath his feet. No one was watching, of course, so he even allowed himself several rather dorky and totally uncool smiles. There may not have been the remains of a fallen city in those waters, but he would be damned if they weren't still worth exploring.

After a few minutes of only mildly hindered glee -- because, how long had it been since he'd had time to himself by a beach?-- he continued walking along the shore until a pair of foot prints appeared up ahead of him. Which was strange, since he hadn't seen anyone else show any interest in the ocean. His first thought was Jake but no, he was off with the felt doing whatever it was that involved the menacing yet friendly group.

So, his curiosity piqued, Dirk began to follow the trail of prints. It lead up past the sandier part of the beach and into the scraggly cliffs. Slightly out of breath, he finally stopped when the trail came to an end and he found a pair of shoes and… A purple cape? He vaguely remembered seeing a flash of the same color as they exited but nothing more than that.

But whoever it was had decided to go swimming and right now the prospect of nice cold water was more than inviting. After all, he had never really found out what the ocean floor would have looked like without crumbled buildings.

Leaving his shirt, glasses and shoes folded neatly beside the others, the human took a deep breath and dived in as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first actual fanfiction I've written and it's on mobile so please excuse the errors and stuff


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ye

This ocean felt wonderful. Taking in deep lungfulls of saltwater, Eridan dove and whirled and let himself drift, actually calm for the first time in ages. 

Although the lack of the lussii's dark forms swimming in the deeper parts of the water was somewhat disconcerting, it also allowed him to relax without fearing immediate death. There were, of course, aquatic animals here as well. Most of them didn't seem to mind him though. 

How long had it been since he'd relaxed like this? It could have been two hours or five minutes since he had dove in- he had lost track of time.

Finally he neared the ocean floor. Eridan hadn't gone too far, so the bottom wasn't all that deep. Some streaks of sunlight still filtered through the waves here and there and he was faintly aware of the luminescent freckles dotting across his face and arms, giving him a sort of aquatic halo in the water around him.

Yawning, he finally settled down a few feet above the soft floor below him and closed his eyes. It took him a few moments to adjust his balance before allowing himself to simply float there and sleep.

In his dreams, the game was over. Lord English fell and the rest of the army around him dissipated to go care for injuries and revel in their victories.

He himself stood alone, watching with some amusement as another version of himself rode past on a large green ogre. Not something he expected, sure, but anything was possible in the dreambubbles. He had seen stranger things.

Faintly, he realized that this was just a memory, that he knew all that would happen afterwards. The air would change around them and a house would appear. 

And yes, there it was, everyone quited as the looming figure materialized before them. Meenah was the first to approach it. Her hand closed slowly around the door handle and it turned. There were gasps and mutterings around him as one by one the members of the ghost army walked into the new world, smiles widening as they were freed at last.

Then he was the only one left. Sure that it wasn't a trap, just a door leading to the final boss, he took a few steps forward, was almost out-

The door slammed shut. In a panic, Eridan grabbed for the handle. It was locked. The house was slowly fading before his eyes and no matter how much he yelled for the other players, he knew they wouldn't hear him. Even if they did, no one would bother getting him out.

Then it was gone. The house vanished, the light fading along with it and Eridan Ampora was left in the dark, alone with the sound of his rapid pulse. All else was silent.

Taking a few steps back, the violetblood felt something warm and thick pooling around his ankles. His first thought was water, but no. This was tar. It was tar and he couldn't breathe in something like this and it was rising faster and faster, up to his knees and his waist and his shoulders and as it covered his head, his yell was cut off. 

The only sensation was that he was shaking, someone was shaking him,

-and he jerked awake to find himself staring into two wide, orange eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There won't really be regular updates, just whenever I have the time to write about gays so sorry if they take a while

This ocean was, Dirk concluded, unlike anywhere he had ever swam before. 

For one, he had never found any part of the water this shallow back on his own planet, although that was understandable. It was nice, in a way. Like this he didn't have to swim up as high for each breath, giving him more time to meander around the ocean floor.

The amount of sand alone amazed him. There were rocks and sand where there should have been streets and buildings. There were still many of the same marine animals, though, and the Strider made a metal note to himself that later he would hunt some of the fish. 

Swimming deeper and deeper, Dirk wondered vaguely where the other person was. They had to still be down here, right? It was strange. He would have still at least seen them resurface for air a couple times.

Ignoring the thought, he trudged onward, watching in amusement as schools of fish flitted around him, nibbling occasionally at his skin. For the most part they would lose interest and leave, but that was fine. Just seeing them was enough. A part of him wanted to catch them now while they weren't afraid of him: however, that could wait. Dirk was enjoying himself more now than he had in ages.

Before long he was in the darker parts of the waters, his lungs begging for air but his mind being driven on by sheer curiosity.

A few meters deeper and he could barely see anything at all through the murky darkness. He was about to turn around and swim back up but something caught his eye.

A faint glow appeared to be emanating from behind a particular outcrop of boulders and, against the will of his senses yelling at him to resurface for breath, he delved deeper. And deeper. Finally his fingers curled around the side of one of the lichen covered rocks and Dirk pulled himself around it to see one of the most unexpected things yet.

Hovering a few feet above the ocean floor was one of the trolls, but he was so much more than that.

The man before him seemed to be asleep, the folds of his shirt wavering in the tide and hinting at gills on his sides. All along the bare parts of his skin were softly glowing violet freckles, the light emanating from them shrouding the troll in a halo of bright lavender.

He was barely moving, the only signs of life being the soft rising and falling of his chest and the slow fluttering of his gills. His lips were parted just enough to show pointed teeth. They reminded Dirk of the sharks in a movie he had seen.

The human sat immobile for what seemed like forever, simply taking in the sight before him. He would probably have stayed longer, too, if not for the burning in his chest.

Inwardly cursing himself, he started to push himself back towards the surface when the troll jerked back a few inches, twitching, his earfins fluttering nervously.

Dirk blinked and weighed his odds. He might have enough oxygen left to try and see what was wrong, but did he really need to? It just looked like a bad nightmare. Nothing a guy couldn't handle by himself. 

He'd made up his mind to leave anyway until the troll's movements became more frantic, his whimpers traveling strangely through the water. Pushing himself instinctively towards the other, Dirk's brow furrowed and reached out to grab his arm and- 

The reaction was instantaneous. Yelping, he marine troll pulled away and began tearing at the gills on his neck, making strangled noises and gasping as though he couldn't… Breathe? 

Taking ahold of his wrists, Dirk pulled them away from the other's neck, shaking him insistently as black spots began to fill his vision.

Suddenly the troll snapped awake and fell still as bright violet eyes met orange.

He was saying something, yelling at him in concern, but Dirk understood none of it as his eyes faded into bleakness and he lost hold of the remaining air he had left.

This was how it ended, then. He hadn't even lasted a full day in the new world. He never even got to talk to the alpha version of himself or apologize to Jake. It was over.

At least, so it seemed until a pair of soft lips were mashed clumsily against his own and he felt surprisingly cold air being pushed into his lungs. Dirk vaguely realized that he was being pulled up, the ringing in his ears was fading and a pair of angry, glowing eyes were watching him accusingly. 

I wasn't long before they broke the surface, Dirk coughing and sputtering as the unfamiliar troll swam them back to the beach. He was talking again -of that much, the albino was sure- but it was lost on him as slipped into blessed unconsciousness.


	6. Chapter 6

One general consensus between alternian citizens was that humans were weak creatures. Their skin was like paper, their teeth short and blunt. No claws, no horns and ridiculous senses of morality. 

 

Eridan did not, however, find them particularly unintelligent up until now. 

 

For whatever reason one of them was in the ocean with him. No landdweller consciously chose to go underwater, much less to stare at sleeping trolls. This particular human, in Eridan’s view, was an idiot.

 

This opinion was explained to said human, the seadweller’s words morphing from annoyed to frantic as he began choking. Running out of oxygen, presumably.

 

The violetblood watched for a moment, waiting for the human to begin swimming back up. When it became apparent that this wasn’t going to happen(just how stupid could this human be?) the young Ampora reached out to him. His intention was simply to pull him back up to the surface. But when he saw a cloud of bubbles blurt from the other’s mouth and rise above them, it became clear that he wouldn’t live that long.

 

A pale head lolled to the side, snow-white hair drifting softly in the water, eyes slipped closed. Then a grey clawed hand pulled him closer as Eridan blew as much breath as he could into his abnormally warm mouth. The orange eyes opened again, slowly this time, still somewhat glazed over but alive.

 

Paddling only with his legs, the seadweller continued dragging the human back up to more reliable sources of air. His mouth was too preoccupied to swear at him, so Eridan settled with glaring at him. Eridan had lots of things to say -why had he woken him up, who did he think he was, why was he underwater, how could he have made it past his wriggling stage with such low intelligence, etc- so he hoped his eyes could convey at least half this much. 

 

The shining surface of the water loomed closer, closer, and even the sea troll was beginning to feel tired at this point. It was a relief when their mouths separated and the other could breathe freely again, coughing and wheezing, his body remaining just as limp as before.

 

This meant that Eridan was once again able to verbally convey his disapproval.

 

“Just what the fuck do you think you’re doing, pestering me that deep in my ocean? And what was a numb brained dirt crawling’ human like yourself doing in the ocean to begin with? Talk to me, dammit!” 

 

There was no response, however. The rescued intruder had passed out, this time with his head resting against the violetblood’s shoulder. Eridan groaned. He couldn’t just leave him here. If he did, the guy would just slip back underwater and drown all over again. Why this was suddenly his responsibility, he didn’t know. He decided to let him drown after all, save himself the trouble. It was the other’s fault. Just let him go, watch his body slide underwater, a thin trail of bubbles rising to the surface and then he would be no more.

 

...Except he didn’t. Somehow, deep down, he knew that he didn’t quite have the heart to let him go. So with an irritated groan and a characteristic amount of grumbling, the seadweller began pulling him back to the shore.

 

Upon arriving to the cliffs from which he had jumped, Eridan realized that there was nowhere safe to leave him. Huffing, he swam -nearly waded, at this point- to the beach a ways off. Sure, he could see beaches with softer sand in the distance, or nice flat rocks, but what had this man done to deserve such luxuries?

 

Dumping the still unconscious body onto the rough mix of sand and shells, he nodded to himself and turned to leave.

 

Then groaned.

 

Then turned around and sat down, waiting for the human to wake up.


	7. Intermission

Hey guys, this was my first time writing actual honest-to-god fanfiction. Needless to say, it’s also my first time posting anything on ao3. Right after beginning this endeavor, I’ve encountered numerous complications and nuances. For one, we decided to move halfway across the country. That process alone used up most of my energy for a couple months(since we had to move, then the house wasn’t ready so we moved into a different house, then moved out and into the original house we wanted to move into, then realized the house we wanted to move into was a piece of shit trailer with no furnace and mold and shit and it’s hell and everyone is unhappy, so now we’re going to move to a different state I guess). 

 

Secondly, we don’t have internet right now. The place we live is in a tiny rural area with a population of ~2000 people and there are only two companies that actually have internet towers this far out. They’re both ridiculously expensive. 

 

Anyway, I haven’t had the time to write or the way to access google drive. I’ve started writing offline and just uploading it all at the library but even then I don’t have the energy to on most days.

 

So yes. I didn’t expect much feedback on this fic and definitely not this many kudos. So thanks. I’m trying to get back into a writing mode and I have some other eridirk things planned(pirates, dragons, hemoswaps, all the fun stuff). I haven’t pronounced this fic “abandoned” yet, so yes, I’ll be updating more.

 

And again, I’m sorry the chapters are so short. I find it hard to finish them when they’re long so shorter ones are easier to write. If it’s a problem, I can always double them up, but that just means less updates.

 

Now, about the story itself.

 

I didn’t actually follow any of the canon settings and/or characters as I should have. My bad.

 

In this AU -which I suppose it is-, various timelines and their dreambubbles merged when the game ended. There are multiple Dirks, Eridans, etc. 

 

In this one Eridan is pretty much the same.

 

Dirk, however, was raised by Bro(for some reason yet unknown to the reader or the writer) and went through the game differently. He is still the standoffish gay dork we all love, though.

 

My point is, this is very ooc. It was more because I felt like writing about them. I’ll be posting more coherent stories with better plots and setting somewhere in the undefinable future, this was simply to get used to writing about them and using ao3.

 

So thank you to the few readers who have followed along with it, I’m sorry about the hiatus, things are still a bit complicated on my end but I plan on writing more fiction about the fish gay macking on the dorito gay. c:


	8. Chapter 8

 

The first thing Dirk’s tired mind processed was the sound of birds. Not regular bird sounds, either. What a wonder this world was. Maybe he could befriend these strange seagulls as well. Or maybe they were parrots? He could be a pirate. Wear glasses over an eyepatch. Or an eyepatch over his glasses. 

 

The thought of this made him laugh weakly, which triggered a bout of coughing. He managed to open his eyes and saw a blurred figure walking closer, kneeling down and helping him sit up, smacking him none too gently on the back.

 

By the time he was done hacking up the rest of the saltwater, Dirk turned to the figure beside him.

 

This troll’s mouth was set in a disapproving grimace, his eyes no longer glowing yet still as vibrant as ever. The moment it was clear that Dirk was done coughing, the seadweller let go of him and went into an accusing, somewhat worried-sounding lecture.

 

“I’ve met many stupid, ignorant air-breathing’ beings in my life but you really take the cake on this one. Do you have some kind of death wish? No? Then maybe you need it fuckin’ spelled out for you. Landdwellers. Don’t. Go. Into. The Ocean. You. Witless. Idiot. Especially not my ocean. I coulda ripped your lungs out there and then an’ right now I have half a mind to, making’ me sit and wait for you to wake up that long.” 

 

Dirk listened to the troll chatter for a few minutes, still somewhat dazed himself. Accusing as it was, he did have a nice voice. It reminded him a bit of Jake. The last part did make him wonder, though, how long he had been unconscious. An hour? Two? When it became apparent that the other wouldn’t stop for breath between inquirings and insults, he sighed and cut in, disappointed in how weak his own voice sounded.

 

“Dude, just, slow down for a sec. How long was I out,” he rasped, “and why did you stay here with me?”

 

The seadweller lowered his fins at that somewhat, as if he hadn’t himself wondered that already. Then he sniffed and folded his arms.

 

“You’ve been here for hours. All day. An’ you should be thanking me, not questioning’ my motives, you ungrateful pink alien,” he answered stiffly. Dirk groaned and let himself fall back against the pale sand once more. 

 

The sun had wandered slowly across the sky since the human had taken the dive into the ocean. He scoffed at its position. Hours? All day? He couldn’t have been unconscious for more than an hour. Yet the sun was still bright enough to bother him and he sighed, looking back up at the pouting troll. Said troll had brushed the sand from himself and turned to walk away. 

 

“Alright, then, O Saviour of mine. How far are we from the cliffs? I left my stuff up there. It would be nice to have it back before this sun renders me blind as a mole.” Dirk quietly congratulated himself on remembering such a phrase. Not that he entirely understood it. Jane had once pointed out that the various dark spots across his skin were called moles, yet that didn’t bring him any closer to discovering its meaning. Or had it been blind as a bowl? This was a subject he had often wondered, voicing his musings to lil Cal and various seagulls.

 

The seadweller, on his part, took little notice of this brilliantly executed phrase. Turning to look at him again with those bright violet eyes with contempt, he sighed dramatically and nodded to his left.

 

“That there’s the only one I know of. Damn stupid place to put such cliffs, as if dragging you out wasn’t a pain in my ass already. I cannot guarantee if your shit’s still there or not -sounds like your problem.” And with that, the troll huffed and began walking towards the very cliffs he had just insulted. Dirk sat back up, shielding his eyes. The white of the sand and the sparkly of the waves, however aesthetically pleasing as it may be, definitely didn’t help his eyes. 

 

“Hey, fish dude. If you’re going back up, can you get mine as well? I kind of need my glasses,” he asked, giving the sea troll his best pleading look through a squint. For a moment the other looked as if he would deny him immediately; after a second thought, however, he shrugged.

 

“Whatever. You owe me.” Was his response, and with that he continued his way off of the rocky beach. 

 

Relieved, Dirk lay back down and rolled over on his stomach. Less sunlight that way. It was meant to be a few moments of repose, but things never quite work out that way, now do they?

 

Predictably, it was mere moments before he was fast asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Also I'm mostly posting it by chapter just so I'll get around to writing the nest one :[


End file.
